Freedom Writers (2007)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Wow - if anyone needed confirmation many US inner city urban areas resemble war zones worse than those found in Third World cities they should watch this movie!And it's a movie worth watching. Sure, it's cliched and predictable but does that matter ... not really because it's based on a true story (Hollywood style). Swank is an idealist teacher who takes 'at risk' students and turns them into scholars with a quest for learning and, more importantly, for doing the right thing simply because it is the right thing. The movie also illustrates the impact a good teacher has in shaping a human's outlook of the world. Despite being slightly on the longer side - over two hours - I didn't glance at my watch even once. It's a decent, feel-good movie. Best of all, it's true.

I recently read a book called "The Element" by Robinson, and he described how much your life changed once you found the one thing that really did it for you. In a way, Freedom Writers is similar: the story of a teacher who takes a class of uninterested teenage student in a disadvantaged neighborhood and is made to believe by her fellow teachers that no amount of effort is going to make them change their ways. However, behind her fragile looks stands a girl who is willing to sacrifice her personal life to get the best out of her students. While the movie didn't manage to hook me, it is easy to watch. Somehow, if I was to pick, I would rather watch…, a similar movie featuring Matthew Perry based on true events, that I found a lot more entertaining.

It's 1994 L.A. Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) is a rookie wide-eyed idealistic English teacher in Woodrow Wilson high school. It's two years after the riots. The school was academically excellent until it voluntarily integrated. She is given the at-risk kids who segregate themselves into racial cliques. Her father Steve Gruwell (Scott Glenn) is disappointed in her wasting her effort. Her husband Scott Casey (Patrick Dempsey) slowly stops being supportive. Administrator Margaret Campbell (Imelda Staunton) refuses to give her proper books. Erin gives the kids diaries to write in. The movie also follows the narrator student Eva Benitez who witnesses her boyfriend's drive-by shooting of her classmate and must testify.It follows the very familiar formula of the white savior teacher and the rough students in need of her help. Hilary Swank is excellent and pulls off this standard melodrama. She really needs help from the students but the young actors don't stand out. They are fine for the purpose of this movie but not much more. Their stories are sincere. I can't oppose its sincerity but it does wear thin when it hits the nail over the head so directly and so often. The heart is in the right place but the formula is unchanged.

I fell in love with this movie the first time I watch it. I'm usually not that person that watch twice or more than twice a movie; but when it's about good movies like this one, I just can't help it.It describes so much and so perfectly the situation people has been through during this gang war and those whole story is perfectly describes. The actors are playing their parts perfectly; and even though I haven't been through what they did, you can totally feel the emotions and imagine their life for a little while. It makes you think that there is always worse things that happen to other compared to you. It makes you understand that maybe you should stop complaining and stop being selfish. That maybe you should know people before judging them because you have not even a clue what they've been through.In conclusion, this is a wonderful movie I would watch again and again.